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Howden Finds Form.
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| Sharon
Howden |
| Click
to enlarge |
After struggling
for form earlier this season, a determined Sharon
Howden backed up her second placing from the previous
week with a gutsy win last Saturday, taking out
the Howdens of Stawell 8km Handicap.
Perfect running
conditions greeted the large field of 32 senior
Stawell Amateur Athletic Club runners who set
off on the first of two laps around a gently undulating
bushland course, set in the Iron Barks north
of Stawell.
Allison Dugdale
set a fast pace early on, and soon reeled in the
front markers
to take the lead, but the rest of the field
was closing fast. Heading into the second lap,
Allison still led, but Sharon Howden was
hot on her
heels, and
last weeks winner Richard Gannon was not
far
behind. Peter Steggall was also making
his presence felt
mid field.
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| Emily
Parnaby |
| Click
to enlarge |
With 1km to
go, Howden had established a handy lead, but Gannon
was making up time,
and Ivan McDonald was not far behind in third.
Further back
Peter Steggall was struggling to hold off a
challenge from Jon Dugdale.
In the closing
stages of the race, Howden took full advantage
of the downhill finish, managing to hold
off Gannon,
to claim the
winners
sash.
A late charge
by Jon Dugdale saw him grab third place and almost
catch Gannon,
with Peter Steggall coming in fourth, ahead
of McDonald.
Col Barnett
posted the fastest race time of 31min 2sec,
and Susie Ellis was the fastest female in
36min 33sec.
Ten juniors
set out on a single 4km lap of the same course
as the seniors, with Jacinta Cameron setting the
early pace. Further back Emily Parnaby and Nat
Watson were running strongly, and back marker
Alastair Dugdale was also closing fast.
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| Liam
Scott |
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to enlarge |
With 1km
to
go, Parnaby forged to the lead and ran
on strongly to score a good win
and also post the fastest junior girls
time of 19min 13sec. Cameron hung on for
second with Watson coming in third. Both Parnaby
and Cameron have been great improvers this year,
the rewards
of some consistant training. Keep it up girls!
Alastair
Dugdale ran the fastest
junior time of 17min 29sec. Nine sub-juniors
ran a 2km circuit with Liam Scott scoring an
easy win from Elly
Barnett,
with Elly
Atherton third. Scott also posted the
fastest sub-junior time of 7min 58sec, and Barnett
ran the fastest
sub-junior girl time of 9min 55sec.
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